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ICYMI: Wisconsin Republican Duey Stroebel Failed to Report Thousands He Made from Farm Grants. He’s Not a Farmer.

Sep 10, 2024

ICYMI: Wisconsin Republican Duey Stroebel Failed to Report Thousands He Made from Farm Grants. He’s Not a Farmer.

MADISON, Wis. — Last week, Heartland Signal reported that for three decades Duey Stroebel received federal funds from the Conservation Reserve Program intended for farmers—but Duey Stroebel is the president of a real estate company, not a farmer. Stroebel also appears in recent years to be failing to report these payments. 

Despite receiving money from federal conservation programs, Duey Stroebel has spent his political career voting against climate legislation and has even opposed land conservation efforts in his own district.

Heartland Signal: Wisconsin Republican Duey Stroebel Failed to Report Thousands He Made from Farm Grants. He’s Not a Farmer.
By: Richard Eberwein

Since 2021, Wisconsin state Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Cedarburg) has failed to report money he received from Federal Conservation Reserve Program funds intended for farmers, even though he is not a farmer and has voted against environmental conservation legislation.

According to a database maintained by the Environmental Working Group, an environmental activist organization, Stroebel has received $66,487 in conservation subsidies since 1995. Since 2021, Stroebel has failed to report receiving income ($2,782 total) from Conservation Reserve payments, despite indicating he made at least $1,000 from them on his disclosures from 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 under the title “additional sources of income.”

These federal funds are administered by the Farm Service Agency and are meant to provide incentive for farmers to preserve environmentally sensitive land and plant crops that improve the quality of the climate. Stroebel is not a farmer, but rather the president of a real estate company based in Cedarburg. A report from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also details how Stroebel suggested he did not owe state income taxes from 2009-10. Stroebel also reportedly received property tax breaks — possibly up to 75% — on his multimillion-dollar estate through Wisconsin’s Forest Land Program.

Even though he has benefitted from conservation programs, Stroebel has routinely voted against climate legislation during his 13 years in the Wisconsin state legislature. After Wisconsin implemented new legislative maps earlier this year, Stroebel’s bid to keep the newly drawn 8th district Senate seat became much more competitive.

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